Twisting and the like machine



June 26, 1934., T, 5 ANDREW 1,964,021

TWISTING AND THE LIKE MACHINE Filed March '24, 1931 HOM 5 50mm ANDRE w T Mefo/v L/J/VGJTRETH INVENTORS ATTORNEYS.

Patented June 26, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TWISTING AND THE LIKE MACHINE of Great Britain Application March 24,

1931, Serial No. 524,842

In Great Britain March 21, 1930 13 Claims.

This invention relates to twisting, covering or similarly treating filaments of various kinds and its object is the production of fancy twisting effects or covering or wrapping effects by apparatus of the kind adapted to impart two or more twists by every revolution of the spindle which in normal usage produces the twist, that is. apparatus of the kind wherein the filament in transit during normal treatment is formed into a loop, held relatively fast at points adjacent the windoff bobbin and the take-up reel respectively, the loop being rotated at its closed end so that one leg of the said loop rotates about the other; two twists being thereby imparted to the filament, one between each respective relatively fast point and the rotary point. The twisting spindle of said apparatus is in all instances apertured lengthways and sideways and the filament passes through said apertures so as to give the loop effect referred to.

Our invention utilizes this kind of apparatus for the particular purpose referred to, but it will become apparent as the description proceeds that we do not necessarily avail ourselves of the capacity of such apparatus to produce two twists for each revolution of its spindle.

According to this invention apparatus of the kind described is adapted for twisting two or more filaments together or one or more filaments about another or others in such a way that in the composite filament the respective component filaments lie irregularly or differently to each other for the purpose, for example, of producing fancy twist yarn or for covering wire, cable or other cores.

It should be understood that by the word filaments we mean any material which is relatively thin linearly, either textile or the like material such as threads, yarns or the like or other material such as wire, cable or the like. And by the word irregularly we mean any deparature either uniform or non-uniform from a normal twist as imparted by standard doubling, cabling or the like twisting operations.

In order that our invention may be more easily understood and readily carried into effect the same will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing in which- 50 Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an arrangement according to the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing an alternative method of threading up.

Fig. 8 is a plan view showing a particular method of causing the component filaments to lie differently to each other in the composite filament.

The spindle adapted for giving a plurality of twists for each revolution is indicated at 1. It may be of any convenient kind of this general class of apparatusas shown and preferred it is a special kind devised by us and forms the subject of our co-pending application Serial No. 452,560, of which the present application is a continuation in part (British Patents 338,570 and 338,606). In this apparatus, a bobbin carrier is axially journalled on a rotating spindle and weighted in such manner as to avoid rotation with the spindle, and the filament from the bobbin engages the spindle in such a manner as to be r0- tated and to thus receive a twist.

The present invention relates to an improvement of this general type of apparatus to attain added or new eiiects.

In the embodiment of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 1, one filament 2 passes from a package 3 and through a rotating spindle 1 in the usual way for receiving two twists for every single revolution of the twisting spindle. The other filament 4 passes directly from a package 5 to the take-away rollers 6 without receiving any twist. The package 3 is mounted on a cradle 8 journalled in the spindle 1, and kept from rotation by suitable weights as described in the above application and in Patents 1,772,766 and 1,750,153. The package 5 is mounted on an extension 7 of the cradle 8 for the package 3.

This arrangement is adapted to produce in the composite filament an effect whereby the component filaments lie irregularly or diiferently to each other to thus produce fancy twist yarns or to cover yarns or other cores, for example, wire or cable.

Fancy yarns such as corkscrews, spirals, gimps and so on, may be produced by differences in the tension at which the respective filaments are pulled off, the necessary adjustment of tension being preferably effected by altering the dragwasher tensioning means indicated diagrammatically at 9 in Fig. 1. This tensioning means comprises a stationary washer secured to the cradle 8 or extension 7 and pressed with a predetermined friction against a washer secured to and rotating with the package. Further particulars of this tensioning scheme will be found in British Patent No. 338,606. Instead of or in addition to this, we may utilize differences in the folding,

count, thickness, twist or stiffness of the respec tive yarns.

In coating or covering a core, as in coated or covered yarns or threads, or as in wrapping wire or cable, say for insulation or protection purposes, the circumstances are so arranged that the outer filament wraps closely and evenly about the inner filament.

It should be understood that we do not confine ourselves to the foregoing arrangement as, for example, in one alternative, instead of passing only one of the filaments through the twisting spindle 1 so that it receives two twists for each revolution of the spindle, we may pass more than one therethrough for that purpose.

On the contrary, we need not pass either or any of the filaments through the spindle 1 in such a way that two twists are imparted for each revolution of the spindle.

For example, see Fig. 2, in this scheme the filament 2 from the package 3 passes directly backward through the bearings of the spindle l and receives no twist while the filament 4 from the package 5, which in this case is carried extraneously to the cradle 8, passes sideways into the twisting spindle 1, as shown at 10, and is thereby twisted about the filament 2 from the package 3.

It will, however, be apparent that there are numerous different methods of threading up and it is not thought necessary to give them all here as they will be obvious to anyone skilled in the art.

A further alternative example for causing the component filaments to lie irregularly or differently to each other in the composite filament is shown in Fig. 3. In this instance the cradle 8 has an extension 11 which carries a pair of interengaging gear wheels 12 and 13 to which are fixed vertical spindles 14 and 15, the gears carrying the spindles, being free to rotate on vertical spigots l6 and 1'7 fixed in said extension 11.

The filaments from the respective packages 3 and 5 pass around the appropriate spindle as shown in the drawing, one filament acting as a driver for the other. The slowest running filament will drive the other, the respective speeds, of course, being dictated by the diameters of the gears and of the spindles; thus, by varying those dimensions either package can be made to give off more or less filament than the other; i. e., deliver the filaments at different speeds, thereby to meet the requirements of the invention; i. e., to cause the component filaments to lie irregularly or differently to each other in the composite filamerit.

We do not, of course, confine ourselves to any particular gears. For instance, they may be of different shapes, e. g. elliptic gears may be used;

and again, they may be other than spur gears, e. g., friction gears may be used.

It will be understood that although two packages have been shown in the embodiments of the invention illustrated by way of example, one of which receives one or more twists and the other of which remains untwisted, a greater number of bobbins may be employed and arranged so that any number of them may receive twists, either one or two twists as may be desired, and any desired number of yarns from the remaining packages may remain untwisted. It will also be apparent that the yarns from two or more packages may both receive twists before being joined and that the degree of twisting may be suitably regulated by regulating the tensioning of the packages or yarns therefrom; also, if desired, all of the yarns to be joined may be twisted.

What we claim is- 1. Apparatus of the type described which comprises a rotatable spindle, a carrier journalled axially with said spindle and weighted to avoid rotation therewith, a pair of filament carrying packages, one of said packages being mounted on said carrier, means for leading the filament from one of said packages without engagement with said spindle, and means for leading the filament from the other of said packages radially through a rotating element of said spindle and for thereafter joining said filaments.

2. Apparatus of the type described which comprises a rotatable spindle, a carrier journalled axially with said spindle and weight ed to avoid rotation therewith, a pair of filament carrying packages mounted on said carrier, means for leading the filament from one package without engagement with a rotating element of said spindle, means for leading the filament from the 96 other package through engagement with a rotating element of said spindle, and means for thereafter joining said filaments.

3. Apparatus of the type described which comprises a rotatable spindle, a carrier journalled 100 axially with said spindle and weighted to avoid rotation therewith, a pair of filament carrying packages, one of said packages being mounted on said carrier, means for leading the filament from one of said packages without engagement with said spindle, means for leading the filament from the other of said packages radially through a rotating element of said spindle and for thereafter joining said filaments, and means for applying different resistances to the withdrawal of filaments from said packages.

4. Apparatus of the type described which comprises a rotatable spindle, a carrier journalled axially with said spindle and weighted to avoid rotation therewith, a pair of filament carrying packages mounted on said carrier, means for leading the filament from one package without engagement with a rotating element of said spindle, means for leading the filament from the other package through engagement with a 1'0- tating element of said spindle, means for thereafter joining said filaments, means for rotatably mounting said packages on said carrier, and means for braking the rotation of said packages.

5. Apparatus of the type described which comprises a rotatable spindle, a carrier journalled axially with said spindle and weighted to avoid rotation therewith, a pair of filament carrying packages mounted on said carrier, means for leading the filament from one package without engagement with a rotating element of said spindle, means for leading the filament from the other package through engagement with a rotating element of said spindle, means for thereafter joining said filaments, rotatable means for controlling the withdrawal of filaments from said packages, and means gearing said controlling means of one filament to the controlling means of the other.

6. A method of doubling threads comprising drawing a thread through a looped path from a package, rotating the loop of thread so formed about the package, during drawing so as to twist the thread, and, during the twisting operation, associating with the thread so twisted a second thread which receives no twist in said twisting operation but is doubled with the first thread.

'7. Method according to claim 1, wherein the thread or threads which are not to be twisted in the doubling operation are carried on pack- 150 ages within the twisting device, and are led directly from inside the device to join the twisted thread or threads and to be doubled with them, the doubled threads then being led together out of the twisting device.

8. A method of doubling threads comprising drawing a thread from a package through a looped path to a point, said package and said point being fixed relatively to each other, rotating the loop of thread so formed about, and relative to, said package during drawing so as to twist the thread, and passing a second thread, which receives no twist in said twisting operation, from a point within said loop to said fixed point, whereby said looped thread is twisted about and doubled with said second thread.

9. A method of doubling threads comprising drawing a thread from a package through a looped path to a point, said package and said point being fixed relatively to each other, rotating the loop of thread so formed about, and relative to, said package during drawing so as to twist the thread, and passing a second thread from a second package arranged in tandem relation to said first package relative to the direction of drawing of said thread without twisting said second thread from a point within said loop to said fixed point whereby said looped thread is twisted and doubled with said second thread.

10. Apparatus of the type described which comprises a rotatable spindle, a carrier journalled axially with said spindle and weighted to avoid rotation therewith, a fixed filament guide, a pair of packages arranged in tandem fashion on said carrier between said spindle and said fixed guide, and means rotating with said spindle having a guide passage from the package nearest to said spindle whereby yarn maybe drawn therefrom through said rotating guide passage to said fixed guide to rotate said yarn in a loop about said packages and to wrap said yarn about untwisted yarn drawn from said second package to said fixed guide.

11. Apparatus of the type described which comprises a rotating substantially horizontal spindle, a carrier journalled on said spindle and weighted to avoid rotation therewith, a pair of filament carrying packages arranged in tandem relation to said spindle, a fixed yarn guide at the opposite end of said carrier from said spindle to receive yarn direct from the package nearest to said fixed guide and a rotating guide on said spindle to receive a filament from the package nearest said spindle and to rotate it as a loop and wrap it about said first yarn while passing to said fixed guide.

12. Apparatus of the type described which comprises a rotating spindle, a fixed guide, a carrier journalled on said rotating spindle and between said spindle and said fixed guide, said carrier being weighted to prevent rotation'with said spindle, a filament package mounted on said carrier, said spindle and carrier having axially aligned packages therethrough to receive filament from said package, a rotating guide mounted on said spindle, and means to pass a filament from said fixed guide to said rotating guide and thence into the axial package through said spindle whereby said second filament is rotated as a loop about said first package and filament.

13. Apparatus of the type described which comprises a rotatable spindle, a carrier journalled axialLv with said spindle to remain without rotation while said spindle is rotating, filament packages on said carrier, means for leading filaments from one or more of said packages through 1 a rotating element associated with said spindle, means for thereafter joining filaments drawn from said packages, and means for controlling the tension of the respective filaments.

THOMAS EDWIN ANDREW. MELON LANGS'I'RETH. 

